Africa is the second-largest continent in the
world and home to over 50 nations with a combined total population
twice the size of the United States. It is a vast and diverse land of
waterfalls, deserts, rain forests and grasslands. The languages of
Africa are also diverse with 800-1,000 different languages spoken
among the people.

One of the most common languages spoken is
Swahili (or Kiswahili, which is the proper way to identify the
language.) Swahili is an Arabic word meaning "of the coast" or people
of the coast." It is one of 80 Bantu (African) languages, and is the
national language of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and is spoken in
Burundi, Rwanda and Zaire, and other parts of central and eastern
Africa.

Swahili was not a written language until after
the arrival of British colonists. The British influence may explain
why the pronunciation of the vowels and consonants found in Swahili
and the Kiswahili alphabet is similar to American English. The
Kiswahili alphabet consists of 24 letters, lacking the letters Q and
X.

Objectives:

1. Students will gain an appreciation for
Swahili as a language spoken in many parts of
Africa.

2. Students will share and illustrate
words from their own culture using English and Swahili and
others to create
a word quilt.

1. Greet each child as they arrive in the
morning with "Jambo "(jahm-bow), or with "Karibu,' (kah-ree-boo),
meaning hello or welcome. "Does anyone know what I was saying to you
as you came into the room?" (Let the children guess.) "The language I
was speaking was Swahili. Jambo means hello, and karibu means
welcome."

2. "Swahili is spoken on the continent of
Africa. That's quite far from where we live. Can anyone tell us what
town we live in? Can anyone show us what state we live in on the map?
(or globe) The continent our state is in is the North American
continent. Can anyone show us where Africa is located? (Show where
the continent of Africa is.) As you can see Africa is far from the
North American continent and far from our state."

3. "Imagine if every state in the United
States had its own language. We would have a lot of languages, but
not as many as on the African continent." Explain that over 800
languages are spoken in Africa and Swahili is spoken in many parts of
central and eastern Africa.

4. Show the class, Jambo Means Hello:
Swahili Alphabet Book. "Today, we are going to learn some new
words. They are words that are spoken in Africa. They are Swahili.
Listen to the Swahili alphabet, notice if it is like ours or
different. Listen to how the words sound and what the words mean. We
will talk about our new words after I finish reading the
book."

5. Read the story to the class.

6. Open a discussion with the children. "What
did you notice about the Swahili alphabet? Was it like ours? Point
out that the Swahili alphabet doesn't contain the letters Q or X.
"Why do you think the author picked these words to share? What words
did you like the best? Why?" (Students may respond they liked the
sound or the meaning of the word.) Explain that words have meaning in
every culture, and that the spoken language is one way that we
communicate. "What are some words that are in this book that we would
use...only we would say them in English. For example, do we use the
word "hello" in our town? What about "father" or "school?" Help
children notice that the words shared in Jambo Means Hello
have meanings similar to words they use everyday. "Why do you think
language is important? Why would it be important to know Swahili if
you had an African friend or were traveling in central or eastern
Africa?"

Activity:

"We are going to imagine that we will be
traveling to Africa. We are going to be making a word sharing quilt
for our
friends. We will each be able to contribute one word to our quilt.
This will help them know something about us, just as we know more
about them after learning about the Swahili alphabet.

1. "Take a few
minutes and look at the words I have written on the
chart.
These are some words we could take to Africa and design into
our quilt. The first word is written in English, the word
right next to it is written in Swahili."

2. Say each word in English, then in
Swahili.

3." Pick one word that is special to
you. It's okay if someone chooses the same word. If you
would like to think of another word that's fine too. I'll
look up the word in Swahili and put it on a slip of paper
for you to look at."

4. "Each of you has been given a
piece of paper. Draw a picture that illustrates what your
word means. Write on your drawing your English word and the
Swahili word. That way we can share our English word and
learn a new Swahili word at the same time."

5. "After you have written your words
and drawn your picture, we will arrange the quilt squares
under the border I've put on the wall labeled
"English/Swahili: Sharing Languages with our African
Friends."
6. Have children arrange quilt squares on the
wall.

Closing:

"When we learn Swahili, we find out that we
have many things in common with people who live in Africa. The words
may sound different, but we share the same meanings. Their words help
us to understand the African culture better. What word did you find
interesting today?"Evaluation:

Students will have selected a word to share in
English and Swahili, correctly written it in English and Swahili, and
illustrated it appropriately, for a word sharing quilt.